Deep-water internal solitaty waves

Abstract

An experimental investigation of mode-2 (’lump-Like’) Solitary waves propagaling on a thin interface between two deep layers of different densities is presented. Small-and large-amplitude waves behaved differently: small waves carried energy and momentum, whereas sufficiently large waves also carried mass. Weakly nonlinear theory anticipated the result for amplitudes a/h [les ] 0.5 but did not provide even a qualitative description of the large-amplitude waves. In particular, the prediction that for waves to maintain permanent form their wavelength must decrease with increasing amplitude failed; instead the wavelength of large waves was observed to increase with increasing amplitude. Furthermore, whilst the waves were expected to emerge from interactions along their precollision trajectories, the large waves actually suffered a backward shift.